Neil Warnock says he will leave the club with a legacy of “investments”, as he is looking to recruit a few younger players during the summer, to go with the experienced old lags.
The manager told the Yorkshire Post “Some of the players I sign won’t only be good value. They’ll be an investment as well. They’re not all going to be 37 years old, giving me one year here. They’re going to be hungry lads who I hope I can make into better players. Some will be resaleable rather than money spent stupidly.”
"I talk to the chairman and all I can do is be realistic in the players that I want. I think the players I'm going to sign will not only be good value, but will be an investment for the club as well. We'll be trying to get the blend of experience as well into that squad. “
After signing Jason Pearce on a £500,000 four-year deal from Portsmouth last week, Warnock is now likely to go back to Fratton Park with bids for midfielder David Norris and striker Luke Varney, as Pompey still need to sell players and slash their wage bill in a desperate attempt to stay in business.
I’m all in favour of signing young players relatively cheaply, as they can go on and improve as they approach the best years of their career. But the cynic in me thinks that all this talk of ‘investments’ and ‘resaleablilty’ suggests that with Bates’ structure in place the club is already looking forward to the day when we fail to agree a second contract for these players and we need to sell them on for a decent fee.
Let’s hope I’m wrong and that the players we bring to the club this close season will stick around to help us build a decent side. But the Post are suggesting that Warnock himself won’t be around for that long while they develop, as the paper says that he is going to retire in 12 months time. He is hoping to end his career by taking Leeds to promotion, but at the end of 2012/13 we have to begin the search for yet another new manager.